Israel, The Promised Land, and Covenant Theology (Nichols)

Having a more dispensational past has left me quite “out of the loop” in regards to what “covenant theology” is and what it really means. The last few years of investigation have really allowed me to understand covenant theology. I have recently been working my way through Greg Nichols’ “Covenant Theology: A Reformed and Baptist Perspective on God’s Covenants”. While the work starts out slow by relating the history and relation of different covenants to different reformed confessions of faith. Nichols really starts to lay out the nature and details of the different covenants in the latter half of the book.

Part of my confusion over the issue of dispensationalism and covenant theology was related to the issue of the promised land. Any typical dispensational preaching talks about the place of Israel both now and in the future. How God promised the Israelites the land and how they will (continue) to inherit/occupy it. This leads to a major question. What is the status of the promised land in covenant theology and in what way (if any) does Israel still relate to it? This was one of my main questions and a source of much confusion. I scoured many different books looking for answers. While reading Nichols’ work I came across a very succinct answer to this very inquiry and wanted to share. Pages 191 and 192 lay it out as follows:

“One dimension of this impact calls for special attention. I refer to the perpetual possession of Canaan as a divine inheritance: ‘I will give unto thee and to they seed after thee the land of their sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God’ (Gen. 17:8) In light of this testimony of Scripture, the question arises: Is the land of Canaan the perpetual inheritance of God’s people? I offer five considerations in answer to this question.

First, God has already given to Hebrew Israel all the land that he promised to give them (1 Kings 4:21; Neh. 9:8).

Second, Hebrew Israel, as a society, is no longer God’s theocratic nation (Matt. 21:43). In Genesis 17:8, Scripture explicitly connects possessing Canaan with being God’s people. They possessed it as God’s people. Yet they are no longer the theocratic nation of God’s people. Possessing Canaan as divine inheritance lasted only as long as Hebrew Israel, as a society, remained God’s theocratic nation.

Third, the old covenant inheritance, Canaan, was inseparably joined to the book of the law (Lev. 25:10). Joshua allotted Canaan to Hebrew Israel by tribes. They were to retain their possession by genealogical records. The year of jubilee recognizes and perpetuates this allocation of Canaan (lev. 25:10). It is impossible to keep the year of Jubilee in Germany, or the United States, or in any other land. Canaan is the land of the book of the law. Conversely, the book fo the law is the law of the land of Canaan. Plainly, God’s people are no longer under the book of the law as their theocratic constitution. Therefore, the land of Canaan is no longer the divine inheritance of God’s people under the new covenant.

Fourth, God has already given his people the down payment of their better, new covenant inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14).

Fifth, its description as “everlasting” was also applied to other temporary instituions. The word translated “everlasting” in Genesis 17:8, literally means, “until the distant future.” Often it does signify forever and ever (Deut. 33:27; Ps. 90:2), but not always. Context must determine its duration. Scripture uses this very word to describe the duration of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:34) and of the Aaronic priesthood (Exod. 29:28, 40:15). Scripture indicates explicitly that these other old covenant institutions terminate with the coming of Messiah. His coming is their vanishing point, the end of the age. Similarly, in Genesis 17:8, [this Hebrew word] signifies “until the distant future, throughout the entire era of Hebrew Israel’s theocracy.” That era lasted a very long time, some fifteen-hundred years, until the promised Messiah came to institute the new covenant.

In conclusion, Scripture does not teach that the land of Canaan is the perpetual inheritance of God’s people. I neither assert nor deny the right of Hebrew Israel to possess Canaan today. If they retain any right to Canaan, that right does not rest on theocracy, since they are no longer God’s theocratic society. Rather, any such right would grow out of the general principles of justice that apply to all territorial disputes among nations.”

Nicely put! I hope this quick cogent snippet of Nichols’ work helps provide you with a few details about how covenant theology views the promised land.